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February 10,1855.] T H E . .X. E A D E B...
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his doctrine is one of the great moral a...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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February 10,1855.] T H E . .X. E A D E B...
February 10 , 1855 . ] T H E . . X . E A D E B . 137
His Doctrine Is One Of The Great Moral A...
his doctrine is one of the great moral and educational powers of the country at this moment ; and he is far more universally known among them than Shakspeare among the English . It is very natural that public opinion among us should look with suspicion on all accounts attributing high civilisation to people so remote . Brahmins talking like Fenelon or Bishop Berkeley , now only amuse people in the pages of Voltaire . Public opinion suspects the Chinese civilisation—and the vul gar notion of a mandarin is taken from the figures in the tea-shops . The Enolish , it would seem , are destined to acquire their first and most deeply-rooted notion of all . foreigners through the medium of the retail trade . Our Sultan is a " Saracen ' s Head" over a tavern ; our Highlander stands at the door of a tobacconist , in company with our Negro ; our Red Indian is always luring youth to bow-and-arrow establishments ; and our Chinese nods with everlasting pigtail among boxes of the tea which we adulterate under his nose !
_ . „ . . , Hence , we have been very careful in the perusal of M . Hue—not to be too eager to believe the Chinese very highly civilised—and we must now bestow a paragraph on the result of our observations . It is not very easy to define what " civilisation" is . Gray thought the age of Froissart ' . ' barbarous "—in which opinion we venture to differ from Gray . Mr . Disraeli thinks that we ourselves have " mistaken comfort for civilisation , " and that none but Hebrew gentlemen have yet emerged from the savage state . While opinion is so unsettled as to the nature of civilisation , it is not easy to pronounce on its presence or absence ; but we certainly know no definition which could fairly include Europe , and yet exclude Cathay . If by civilisaitthe
tion be meant ( and this is what the mass of people mean by . ) having convenient houses , trade , facility of transport , reading and writing , novels , shows and plays , tea parties , and good worldly conversation—why , the Chinese have all these . But if we take a far higher view , we shall find that we must admit them within the pale too . Their great empire is essentially governed by Traditions , and Ideas—real moral forces . All rests there—at kxst , as M . Hue shows —on the idea of the family—on the filial relation . No people in existence more honours the memory of their sages , or is more familiar with their sayings and their histories . Then , take one little . ' fact pregnant with interest . After all the fuss we have made in Europe about the Education question , what shall we say ( considering our own conduct ) to this?— ^ EDUCATION IN CHINA . Of all countries in the world , China is assuredly the one in which primary instruction 13 most widely diffused . There is no little village , not even a , group of farms , in which a teacher is not to be found . He resides most frequently in the Pagoda- ; and for his maintenance he has usually the revenue of a foundation , or sometimes a kind of tithe paid by the farmers after the harvest . _ _ The schools are rather less numerous in the northern provinces ; it almost seems as if the intellects of the people were rendered duller and heavier by the rigour of the climate . " ~ ' ~ ~ ~ The people of the south , on the contrary , are acute and lively , and devote themselves with ardour to literary studies . _ With some few exceptions , every Chinese knows how to readjend write , at least sufficiently for the ordinary occasions of life . Thus the workmen , ~ the peasants even , are capable of taking notes concerning their daily affairs , carrying oh their own correspondence , of reading the proclamations of the Mandarins , and often also the productions of the current literature .
Primary instruction has even made its way into the floating dwellings , which cover by thousands the rivers , lakes , and canals of the Celestial Empire . One is sure of finding in their little barques a writing-desk , an arithmetical machine , an annual register , some of the little brushes that supply the place of pens , and some pamphlets which in their moments of leisure the mariners amuse themselves by deciphering . Then , let us consider the following : — HOW CHINA IS GOVERNED . The Emperor " beingtlie '' soirof "' Hel ^ eh 7 " ahU"do ' nsequentlyracco ^* nS " to'tne "^ 'nme 8 e expression , Father and Mother of the Empire , has a right to the respect , the veneration , the worship even of his children . His authority is absolute : it is he who makes and who abolishes the laws , who grants privileges to Mandarins or degrades them , to whom alone belongs the power over life and death , who is the source of all administrative and judicial authority , who has at his disposal the whole power and revenues of the empire—in one word , the state is the Emperor . His omnipotence , indeed , extends even farther , for he can transmit this enormous power to whom he pleases , and choose his successor among his children , without any law of inheritance imposing a restraint upon him in his choice .
The sovereign power in China is , then , in all respects absolute ; but it is not , as has \> uen supposed , for that reason despotic . It is a strong and vast system of centralisation . The Emperor is the head of an immense family ; and the absolute authority that belongs to him is not absorbed , but delegated to his ministers , who in their turn transmit their powers to the inferior officers of their administrative governments . The subdivisions of authority thus extend gradually downwards to groups of families , of which the fathers arc the natural chiefs , and just as absolute within their sphere as any other . It may well bo supposed that this absolute power , being thus infinitely divisible , ia no longer equally dangerous ; and besides , public opinion is always ready to check any excesses on the part of the Emperor , who would not ,
without exciting general indignation , dare to violate the rights of any of his subjects . He ha . } also his private and general councils , the members of which have tho right of expressing their opinions , and even remonstrating with him on matters both of public and private concern . Ono may read in tho annuls of China how the censors have often acquitted themselves of their duty with a freedom and vigour worthy of ull praise . Finally , these potentates , tho objects of so much homage during their lives , arc often after death , like tho ancient kings of Egypt , subjected to a . trial , the verdict from which is attached to their names and descends to posterity . By these posthumous names only do they become known to history ; and as they are always either eulogistic or satirical , they servo to give a brief estimate of tho character of their reign .
The greatest counterpoise of tho Imperial power consists of tho literary aristocracy , or corporation of men of letters ; an ancient institution , which has been established on a solid basis , and tho origin of which is at leant as early as tho eleventh century before our era . It may bo said thnt the administration recoivos ull its ' real and direct influence from this sort of literary oligarchy . Tho Emperor am only chooso his civil agontn among tjio lettered class , nnd in conformity with established arrangements , Every Chinese may present himself for the examination for the third literary dryree : and thoao who obtain this may then become candidates , for tho second , Avhicli opens tho way to ollicial employment . To fill tho higher offices the prize must bo obtained in tho competition for tho first degree .
Mr . Carlyle considers it infinitely honourable to John Bull that lie is a " born Conservative .... slow to believe in novelties . " We have been much amused by the following passage—illustrative of the natural conservatism of John Chinaman , as sailors call him . In the opening of the paragraph , we have some account of a " leading jflfcrnal , " in those parts , too : — . TBANOJDILMTY OF THE CHINESE MIND . . The official gazette of PeKnmay also be counted among the organs of the administration . It is a real Moniteur Universel , in which nothing can be ' printed which ias not been presented to the Emperor , or which does not proceed from the Emperor himself ; the editors of it would not dare to change or add anything , but under penalty of the severest punishment . This Pekin gazette is printed every day , in the form of a pamphlet , and contains sixty or seventy pages . The subscription to it does not amount to more than twelve francs a year ; and it is a most interesting collection , and very useful in making one acquainted with the Chinese Empire . It gives a sketch of public affairs and remarkable events ; the memorials and petitions presented to the Emperor , and his answers to them ; his instructions to the Mandarins and the people ; the judicial proceedings , with the principal condemnations and the pardons granted by the Emperor ; and also a . summary of the deliberations of the sovereign courts . The principal articles and all the public documents are reprinted in the official gazettes of the provinces .
Papers thus edited certainly serve to keep the Mandarins and the people acquainted with public , affairs , but they are little calculated to excite or encourage political passions . In ordinary times , and when they are not under the influence of any revolutionary movement , the Chinese are not at all inclined to meddle with affairs of government . They are a delightfully quiet people 4 o deal with . In 1851 , at the period of the death of the Emperor Tao-lcouang , we were travelling on the road from . Pekin , and one day , when we had been taking tea at an inn in company with some Chinese citizens , we tried to get up a little political discussion . We spoke of the recent death of the Emperor , an important event , which of course must have interested everybody . "We expressed our anxiety on the subject of the
succession to the Imperial throne , the heir to which was not yet publicly declared . " Who knows , " said we , " which of the three sons of the Emperor will have been appointed to succeed him ? If it should be the eldest , will he pursue the same system of government ? If the younger , he is still very young ; and it is said there are contrary influences , two opposing parties , at court—to which will he lean ? " We put forward , in short , all kinds of hypotheses , ia order to stimulate these good citizens to make some observation . But they hardly listened to us . We came back again and again to the charge , in order to elicit some opinion or other on questions that really appeared to us of great importance . But to all our piquant suggestions they replied only by shaking their heads , puffing out whiffs of smoke , and taking great gulps of tea .
This apathy was really beginning to provoke us , when one of these worthy Chinese , getting up from his seat , came and laid his two hands on our shoulders in a manner quite paternal , and said , smiling rather ironically : — " Listen to me , my friend ! Why . should you trouble your-heart and ^ fatigue your head by all these vain surmises ? The Mandarins have to attend to affairs of State ; they are paid for it . Let them earn their money , then ? " "But don't let us-torment ourselves about what does not concern us . We should be very great fools to want to do political business for nothing . " . " That is very conformable to reason , " cried the rest of the company ; and thereupon they pointed out to us that our tea was getting" cold and our pipes were out . One object of M . Hue ' s is , to present the fullesT information on those
points on which Europeans adopt traditionary rnisinformation about this people . In so doing , he sometimes alters to their advantage—sometimes to their disadvantage . That he has a kindly feeling for them—the result of fourteen years' intercourse —is very evident ; but ne does not spare them , either . He tells us—and on his authority we tell our readers—that they treat their women very ill—that they are given to lying and insincerity , ana jobbing , and trickery in trade . But before we come to consider the present prospects of the country , we shall extract a few passages illustrative of their manners . Let the reader note the excellent remark of Confucius , which we have marked in italics , and which could only have come from a very superior .. thinker .: rr : .. _ ___ CEREMONIES ^ ~ ' " ¦¦*¦ " - ~~ ' The Chinese have been much reproached for their absurd attachment to frivolotis ceremonies , and the minutiue of etiquette . People have been pleased to represent them as always moving in a grave , solemn manner , after the fashion of automata , executing in their friendly salutations only certain manoeuvres prescribed by the law , and addressing each other in stiff formulas of courtesy learnt by heart from the ritual . The Chinese of the lower class , the palanquin bearers , and street porters of great towns , have been supposed to be always prostrating themselves to each other , and asking ten thousand pardons , after having been abusing or even knocking each other down . These extravagancies are not really to be met with in China ; they are to be found only in the accounts of Europeans , who seem to think themselves obliged , in speaking of a country so litlo known , to relate many strange things . Setting aside all exaggeration , however , it is certain that urbanity is among the Chinese a distinctive sign of national character .
A fondness for polite and decorous observance may be traced among them from the remotest antiquity , and their ancient philosophers never fail to recommend to the people a strict observance of the precepts established for the relations of society . Coifiicius said that ceremonies are the symbols of virtue , and destined to preserve it , to tecal it to memory , and even sometimes to supply its place . These principles being among tho earliest inculcated by schoolmasters on the minds of their pupils , it is not surprising that wo find in all ranks of society manners which display more or less of that politeness which is the basis of Chinese education ; and even the country people and peasants certainly treat each other with more respect and decorum than
would be manifested among tho laborious classes of Europe . In their official reports , and on solemn occasions , the Chinese have certainly too much of stiflhesa and bombastic grimace , and are too much tho slaves of ceremonious etiquette . Tho regulation tears and groans of their funerul ceremonies , their emphatic protestations of affection , respect , and devotion fo pcoplo they despise- and detest , tho pressing invitations to dinner , given on condition of not being accepted—all those are excesses nnd abuses common enough , but which were oven noticed and blamed by Confucius himself . Thia rigid observer of " Tho Kites "' has somewhere said that , with respect to ceremonies , it is better to bo a , miser than a prodigal , especially if in practising them oho lias not tho feeling in the heart that alone , confers on them merit
nnd importance . Apilrt from these public demonstrations , in which there w often a good doal of constraint and affectation , tho Chinese ore not deficient in openneaa and freedom of deportment . When jthey have pulled off their satin bootH , and laid aside their robes of state and their official hatH , they become men of tho world ; and in tho habitual intorcourso of daily life they know how to release themselves from the bonds of otiquetto , and indulge in social recreation , in which tho conversation is seasoned , as among
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 10, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10021855/page/17/
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